Re: Blood and Iron

The untimely demise of Winston Churchill would affect the entire world, and in ways that were completely unpredictable. Even with his knowledge of future events, and a much higher ability to see patterns and predict their outcomes well in advance. Bruno could not accurately pin down what exactly would result as a result of the would be future British Prime Minister’s assassination.

Granted his own actions had directly changed the course of history much in the same vein, but this… This was completely unexpected, and when Bruno heard the news, well it was easy to understand why he was shocked, that is, if you understood his perspective.

Which nobody besides his wife truly did. In fact, Heidi herself could easily surmise that this was not something that was supposed to happen, as it flooded the news. She might not be an unmatched genius. Nor had she been college educated.

But she had grown up in Bruno’s family library along with him and had received a proper education herself up until the age of marriage. She was more than capable of understanding the reality that this was something which was not supposed to happen.

Even if Bruno had not mentioned once or twice Churchill’s name in the context of future events that had yet to transpire in this life, something Heidi was immediately able to conjure from memory, she would have known that this was an event that was not supposed to have occurred.

She wanted desperately to try to get ahold of her husband to figure out what was going on, but the man was obviously quite busy with the war in Italy and it would be difficult even with her resources to take him away from that.

All she could do as she listened to the radio broadcast depicting the assassination in the most gruesome light, was a hope that Bruno would have a way to adapt, improvise and overcome the challenges this would no doubt force him to undergo as the war continued to wage on.

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The German High Command was rather shocked to learn that Churchill had been slain in the streets of London. The weapon used was said to have been chambered in.303 British, and had supposedly from the ballistics science, fired out of a 640mm barrel.

Which meant it very well could have been a Lee Enfield SMLE, which was currently seeing service in the field. Or… It could have been one of the sanitized Mauser 98s that was re-chambered, re-barreled and given a new stock as well as scrubbed of all manufacture markings, and proof marks to conceal where it had come from.

If this was the case, then the German Reich would, in some part, be held responsible for the death of Churchill. But… There was really no way to tell as the assassins had escaped, and they were said to have been wearing red masks and armbands. Symbolizing them as a member of the British Union of Socialists.

A radical Bolshevik organization inspired by the Red Army that had emerged in Great Britain as a result of Bruno’s interference in the timeline. And if that were the case, then the Germans were in the clear, as they would never arm Marxist revolutionaries after seeing what they did to Russia a decade prior.

The reality was that the communists ended up taking the blame, despite the men who conducted the attack being a patriotic yet isolationist group which wanted an end to the war. Churchill, being among the most hawkish of the British Government needed to die for them to get what they wanted.

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As there was no possibility of peace between Germany and Britain that did not first result in Germany being wholly crushed in the process so long as Churchill drew breath. And since this was proving to be an outright impossibility to achieve, the war would continue until the Germans finally decided to stop farming their men for XP and march on Paris.

Having leadership that understood this reality very well, these British Patriots marked Churchill for death, and framed the British Union of Socialists for the hit. And for the first time since the war began, the British Government began having an argument with themselves over whether or not continuing the fight was really worth the effort.

The losses sustained thus far for the British were quickly closing in on a million men in Europe alone. Then there were the deaths in colonies, and the multiple rebellions they were currently having to put down across the world.

Not to mention the damage inflicted on the Royal Navy, which would require a decade at least to fully recover from. This was a war which was going on far longer than they initially expected it to. And the home front was on the bring of completely breaking out into civil war.

Especially now that the First Lord of the Admiralty was slain outside of Parliament by revolutionary socialists! But if they yielded now, the Germans would easily become the supreme power of Europe, and possibly the entire world.

If they were not already, that is. British influence would no doubt wane, and their allies would be left to be trampled over. Was this a price the British Government was truly willing to pay for peace?

That was the debate currently taking place within the House of Commons and Lords, while King George V sat on his throne, debating what in the hell he was supposed to do with this mess.

He had damn near gone into total shock after hearing that Churchill of all people was assassinated. As his ministers, many of which were on opposing sides of the issue tried to council him.

George realized that the ultimate factor in deciding whether or not they remained in the war was actually located on the other side of the Atlantic, and because of this he was quick to ask what the opinion of the United States was on recent developments.

"And how exactly are the American elections going? Is the pro-intervention candidate winning, or losing?"

At first nobody said a word, until finally after several moments of silently looking at one another, one of the King’s minister finally informed him of how the American elections were proceeding.

"It would appear that the Democrats most likely nominee will be Woodrow Wilson. After spending the last four years dispelling his slandered reputation and the rumors surrounding him.

He is gaining popularity by promising to re-open the economy to the world, and intervening in the conflict by selling weapons, munitions, and other manufactured goods. I would say, as it currently stands, there is no way of knowing who will win the general election…"

After hearing this, King George sighed heavily and remained utterly silent. There were too many thoughts on his mind, and no answers to give for the time being. Either way, what Britain chose to do now would have major implications of the future of not only their empire but the entire world.

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